Chapter 4
The young tenant(房客) in the chair allowed these thoughts to file, soft-shod, through his mind, while there drifted(飘来) into the room furnished sounds and furnished scents.
He heard in one room a tittering(嗤嗤的窃笑) and incontinent(荒淫无度的), slack(放纵的)laughter; in others the monolog(独白) of a scold, the rattling(嗒嗒声) of dice, a lullaby(催眠曲), and one crying dully; above him a banjo(班卓琴) tinkled with spirit.
Doors banged somewhere; the elevated(高架的)trains roared intermittently(断断续续地); a cat yowled(惨叫) miserably(凄惨地) upon a back fence.
And he breathed the breath of the house—a dank(潮湿的) savor rather than a smell—a cold, musty(发霉的) effluvium(臭气) as from underground vaults(地窖) mingled(混合)with the reeking(发出臭味的) exhalations(发散物)of linoleum(油毡) and mildewed(发了霉的) and rotten(腐烂的) woodwork(木制品).
Then, suddenly, as he rested there, the room was filled with the strong, sweet odor(气味) of mignonette( [法]木犀草 ).
It came as upon a single buffet of wind with such sureness and fragrance and emphasis that it almost seemed a living visitant(参观者).
And the man cried aloud, “What, dear?” as if he had been called, and sprang up and faced about.
The rich odor clung to(紧附) him and wrapped(包裹) him around.
He reached out his arms for it, all his senses for the time confused and commingled.
How could one be peremptorily(突然地) called by an odor? Surely it must have been a sound.
But, was it not the sound that had touched, that had caressed(爱抚) him?
“She has been in this room,” he cried, and he sprang to wrest from it a token, for he knew he would recognize the smallest thing that had belonged to her or that she had touched.
This enveloping scent of mignonette(木犀草), the odor that she had loved and made her own—whence(从何处)came it?
The room had been but carelessly set in order.
Scattered(零散的) upon the flimsy(轻而薄的) dresser scarf were half a dozen hairpins—those discreet(小的，不显眼的), indistinguishable friends of womankind, feminine of gender, infinite of mood and uncommunicative of tense.
These he ignored, conscious of(意识到) their triumphant lack of identity.
Ransacking(搜遍) the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded(被遗弃的), tiny, ragged(破旧的) handkerchief.
He pressed it to his face.
It was racy(辛辣的) and insolent(粗野的) with heliotrope(天芥菜); he hurled(丢下) it to the floor.
In another drawer he found odd(零星的) buttons, a theater program, a pawn broker(典当商)’s card, two lost marshmallows(棉花软糖), a book on the divination(占卜) of dreams.
In the last was a woman’s black satin(缎子) hair-bow, which halted(使…停下) him, poised(保持) between ice and fire.
But the black satin hair-bow also is femininity’s demure(端庄的), impersonal, common ornament(装饰物), and tells no tales.
And then he traversed(穿过) the room like a hound(猎犬) on the scent, skimming(扫视) the walls, considering the corners of the bulging(鼓起的) matting on his hands and knees, rummaging(仔细查找) mantel and tables, the curtains and hangings, the drunken(摇摇欲坠的) cabinet(橱柜) in the corner, for a visible(可见的) sign, unable to perceive(察觉) that she was there beside, around, against, within, above him, clinging to him, wooing(追求) him, calling him so poignantly(悲惨地) through the finer senses that even his grosser ones became cognizant(察知的) of the call.
Once again he answered loudly, “Yes, dear!” and turned, wild-eyed, to gaze on vacancy(空虚), for he could not yet discern(觉察出) form and color and love and outstretched arms in the odor of mignonette.
Oh, God! Whence that odor, and since when have odors had a voice to call? Thus he groped(摸索).
He burrowed(搜寻) in crevices(裂缝) and corners, and found corks(软木塞) and cigarettes.
These he passed in passive contempt(蔑视).
But once he found in a fold of the matting a half-smoked cigar, and this he ground beneath his heel with a green and trenchant oath(咒骂).
He sifted(仔细检查)the room from end to end.
He found dreary(枯燥无味的) and ignoble small records of many a peripatetic(流动的) tenant; but of her whom he sought, and who may have lodged(借宿) there, and whose spirit seemed to hover(盘旋) there, he found no trace(踪迹).
And then he thought of the housekeeper.
He ran from the haunted(有鬼魂出没的) room downstairs and to a door that showed a crack(缝隙) of light.
She came out to his knock.
He smothered(压抑) his excitement as best he could.
“Will you tell me, madam,” he besought(恳求) her, “who occupied the room I have before I came?”
“Yes, sir. I can tell you again. ’Twas Sprowls and Mooney, as I said.
Miss B’retta Sprowls it was in the theaters, but Missis Mooney she was.
My house is well known for respectability.
The marriage certificate hung, framed, on a nail over—”
“What kind of a lady was Miss Sprowls—in looks, I mean?”
“Why, black-haired, sir, short, and stout(肥胖的), with a comical(滑稽的)face.
They left a week ago Tuesday. ”
“And before they occupied it?”
“Why, there was a single gentleman connected with the draying(用板车装运)business.
He left owing me a week.
Before him was Missis Crowder and her two children, that stayed four months; and back of them was old Mr. Doyle, whose sons paid for him.
He kept the room six months.
That goes back a year, sir, and further I do not remember. ”
He thanked her and crept(缓慢行进) back to his room.
The room was dead.
The essence(香味) that had vivified(使有活力) it was gone.
The perfume of mignonette had departed.
In its place was the old, stale(污浊的) odor of moldy(陈腐的) house furniture, of atmosphere in storage.
The ebbing(幻灭) of his hope drained(耗尽) his faith.
He sat staring at the yellow, singing gaslight.
Soon he walked to the bed and began to tear the sheets into strips(条状物).
With the blade(刀锋) of his knife he drove them tightly into every crevice around windows and door.
When all was snug(严实的) and taut(紧的) he turned out the light, turned the gas full on again and laid himself gratefully upon the bed.
It was Mrs. McCool’s night to go with the can for beer.
So she fetched it and sat with Mrs. Purdy in one of those subterranean(地下的) retreats(僻静处) where housekeepers foregather(聚集) and the worm dies seldom.
“I rented out my third floor, back, this evening,” said Mrs. Purdy, across a fine circle of foam(泡沫).
“A young man took it.
He went up to bed two hours ago. ”
“Now, did ye, Mrs. Purdy, ma’am?” said Mrs. McCool, with intense admiration.
“You do be a wonder for rentin’ rooms of that kind.
And did ye tell him, then?” she concluded in a husky(沙哑的) whisper, laden(充满的) with mystery.
“Rooms,” said Mrs. Purdy, in her furriest tones, “are furnished for to rent.
I did not tell him, Mrs. McCool. ”
“’Tis right ye are, ma’am; ’tis by renting rooms we kape alive.
Ye have the rale sense for business, ma’am.
There be many people will rayjict the rentin’ of a room if they be tould a suicide(自杀) has been after dyin’ in the bed of it. ”
“As you say, we has our living to be making,” remarked Mrs. Purdy.
“Yis, ma’am; ’tis true.
’Tis just one week ago this day I helped ye layout(布置) the third floor, back.
A pretty slip of a colleen(小姑娘) she was to be killin’ herself wid the gas; a swate little face she had, Mrs. Purdy, ma’am. ”
“She’d a-been called handsome, as you say,” said Mrs. Purdy, assenting(同意) but critical(挑剔的), “but for that mole(痣) she had a-growin’ by her left eyebrow.
Do fill up your glass again, Mrs. McCool. ”
